Forever is Just a Word
by AznTigress
Summary: Some things in life just don't work out the way you want it to. Cloud wishes that was one lesson he never learned. -Followup oneshot to A Lesson in Parenting-


**A/N:** I decided to name Cloud's parents on my own accord so they would be easier to identify. Argus is Greek for "vigilant guardian" and Natalie is Latin for "birthday." (I looked them up on the Internet.) This is a follow-up story to my other one-shot, _A Lesson in Parenting_, so you should read that before reading this if you don't want to get a little confused.

* * *

**Forever Is Just A Word**

With a big blow of air, little Cloud Strife quickly extinguishes the flickering flames before him as his parents clap enthusiastically.

"Happy birthday, Cloud!"

The little blonde-haired boy responds with an elated grin as he helps his mother pick the candles off of his white-frosted chocolate birthday cake. Nearby, Spike stood watching the festivities with much curiosity, cooing once in a while to express his interest. Natalie was skeptical about keeping the big bird inside the house, but it had been chilly during the week and Argus was relentless in giving numerous assurances that the Chocobo would not make a mess in the house.

"Mom, can I give Spike some cake?" Cloud asks as he holds a slice of cake on a peach-colored plate.

"Um, I don't that that's such a good idea, honey," responds Natalie with a smile as she continues to cut up the rest of the cake.

"Why?"

"Because I don't think chocolate is a good thing to give to a Chocobo."

"Why?"

"Because animals can't eat human food."

"Why?"

Natalie chuckles at her son's overwhelming curiosity. "Because human food has things in it that would make an animal sick."

"Why?"

Argus began laughing and kneels down to the boy's level to see him face to face. "Because humans are different from animals and we need more things that animal food doesn't have."

The two adults were expecting another "why" but instead were met with contemplative silence instead.

"Oh, okay," exclaims Cloud, taking a fork off the table and eating his slice of cake.

Argus and Natalie breathe silent sighs of relief as they continued with what they were doing; Argus giving Spike some Gysahl Greens while Natalie finishes cutting up the rest of the chocolate cake.

"So Cloud," began Argus. "How old are you now?"

"Seven!" chirped the boy through a mouthful of cake.

"Honey, don't talk with your mouth full," responded Natalie.

"Lucky number seven, huh?" chuckles Argus. "Well then, you should make the most of this year, Cloud. Lots of good things are bound to happen."

"Dad, why is seven a lucky number?" wondered Cloud.

"Uh," words were stuck in his throat as Argus tries to think of an answer for his son. "Well… it's because… the number seven is everywhere. Like… there are seven colors of the rainbow… and there's seven days in a week…"

"Oh," Cloud responded in a tone that was meant to humor the man and feign true understanding.

Natalie walks up to her husband and gives him a reassuring kiss. "You tried your best."

"… Why _is_ seven a lucky number?" the man responds, perplexed at the question itself.

Natalie merely laughs at her husband in response.

* * *

A week after Cloud's seventh birthday, Argus was outside conditioning his sword, the Rune Blade, while Cloud was playing around with Spike nearby and Natalie was beating the dust out of a rug from the house. It was another bright sunny day in Nibelheim and Cloud was trying to enjoy the rest of his summer vacation as much as possible before he went back to school in September.

While riding on Spike, the boy notices the other children in town playing tag and whatnot with each other. His little blue eyes scope the area, seeking out a particular face out of all of them. Then he saw what he was looking for. With a shy smile, Cloud watched as Tifa comes out of her house next door and tackles one of the boys outside. With a shout, everyone in the group went to their houses and came back with wooden swords and other makeshift toy weapons to do fake battle with one another. Tifa was among the few who didn't have weapons and went on to do play martial arts.

"You know, if you like her that much you should ask her out."

Cloud nearly falls off of his Chocobo upon hearing his father's voice all of a sudden.

"Dad!" he chastises through clenched teeth.

"Didn't mean to scare you, son," apologizes Argus. "Looking at that Tifa girl again?"

"No," replied Cloud irritably as he turns to look elsewhere.

"It's okay if you like a girl, son. That's normal."

"I don't like anyone!"

Argus smiles as he watches his son try to act tough. He brings his right hand up and lays it on top of the boy's head. "Is that so? Then why do you look over at her whenever you get the chance?"

"I wasn't looking at _her_," Cloud argues back, a little blush forming on his cheeks. "I was looking at… a little grasshopper… on the ground…"

"Oh, I see," responds Argus as he humored the boy along. "It's a real shame. She looks cute."

"Mm-hmm," the little boy mumbles as he gave a small smile.

"What was that?" asked Argus as he looks at his son with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Nothing!" Cloud exclaims back. He tries to hide the blush in his cheeks but obviously he couldn't hide anything from his father.

"Cloud, there's nothing wrong with a boy liking a girl," assures Argus, looking at his boy in the eye. "In fact, it's a very good thing you like someone like Tifa. It means you're maturing faster than the other boys."

"Really?" perked up Cloud.

"Yep," affirms Argus. "It's like you're growing up right before my very eyes."

"Cool!" vociferated the boy with a grin on his face. "I hope I grow up faster. I want to be able to go with you when you go to work."

"That'd be great," agrees Argus. "I could sure use a strong assistant."

"A _very_ strong assistant!" chirps Cloud.

Argus chuckles at the boy's enthusiasm as he ruffled his son's hair. Soon after, a man who works at the town inn came up to Argus with a piece of paper in his hands.

"Mister Strife," greeted the young man. "I'm spreading the word to all of the engineers around town that there's a job opening for engineers at Gongagga. There's a new Mako reactor that's going to go up there and Shin-Ra needs more hands."

"Really now?" responds Argus as the young man hands him the flyer explaining the opened positions. Argus takes a look at the flyer and his eyes open wide in surprise. "Wow, they're offering a lot of money for this reactor's construction. I could use the extra money. Thanks a lot."

"No problem, Mister Strife," the young man smiles as he leaves the flyer with the man and returns to the inn.

"Looks like we'll be going on that Costa del Sol vacation after all, Cloud," spoke Argus, his eyes still on the flyer as he turns back to his son. "And maybe even the Golden Saucer on the side."

Cloud tries to peek over at the flyer, but he couldn't see much other than the word "wanted" written in big bold letters. "Dad, where's coast dell sole and gold sauce?"

"Costa del Sol and Golden Saucer," Argus corrected the boy. "Costa del Sol is this small resort town that's right next to the ocean with a beach. The water's so clear you could see the fishes swimming around. And the sand's nice and wet enough to make sand castles and, if you're lucky, you might find some treasure."

"Treasure?" Cloud's eyes widen in excitement. "Awesome!"

"It sure is, and your mother would love to relax on the beach as well," added Argus. "And Golden Saucer is a huge amusement park in the sky where we have to ride an air trolley up. There's a shooting rollercoaster and Chocobo racing, and even a stage where there's always a play to see."

"Wow!" exclaims the boy. "I can't wait!"

"Yeah, me neither," agrees Argus. "You've never been to Costa del Sol or the Golden Saucer before so this should be a fun experience for all of us."

He turns to the boy and lays a hand on his shoulder. "Cloud, I'm going to need to borrow Spike for a while. The opened spots might be filling up fast so I need to get to Gongagga as quickly as possible."

"Okay," affirms the boy, who was then picked up by his father and placed on the ground.

Just then, Natalie came out of the house to see her husband strap on Rune Blade and secure the saddle on the yellow Chocobo.

"Argus?" she exclaims. "Where are you going?"

"The inn boy told me that there are some job openings for a new Mako reactor to be built in Gongagga," replies the man. "I need to get there quickly before they hire up all the free slots."

"Mom, we're going to go to coast dell sole and gold sauce!" Cloud jumped up with joy.

"What?" the woman chuckles.

"He means Costa del Sol and the Golden Saucer," explains Argus. "Which means we'll be having another date on the gondola, just like before."

Natalie brings a hand up to her mouth as she smiles at the prospect of being with her husband in the same place and on the same ride where their first date took place. The two embrace one another and gave one last kiss before Argus mounts Spike.

"I should be gone for at least a month or so," he tells his little family. "Cloud, you take care of your mother, you hear?"

"Yes sir!" the blonde-haired boy salutes his father.

"Be safe," advised Natalie.

"I'll be fine," assures Argus. "I have Rune Blade after all."

He gently taps the Chocobo's sides with his heels and in minutes he was racing out of the town and towards Gongagga at full speed. Natalie and Cloud both watch as the man disappears out of sight before going in to prepare for dinner.

* * *

Three weeks passed by without any word from his father. Cloud was feeling anxious about not seeing his father for so long, but it was something that he had to deal with occasionally. The man was an engineer by trade and long trips such as this was necessary for him to earn enough money to support Cloud and his mother. During this time, he could feel that his mother was even more anxious than him, doing more housework than usual in order to keep her mind preoccupied. Many times he could see that she was tempted to call his father through the PHS, but always watches her hang her hand over the phone only to pull it away and go back to what she was doing before. Cloud remembered asking his mother why she never called his father and the woman explained to him that she didn't want to bother him when he's on the job. She even brought up the possibility that he could be working on something dangerous and that calling him could put him in danger. Cloud had understood her words, for he too did not want anything bad to happen to his own father. Even when he was worried every day that his father wasn't there, Cloud would look up at the stars and hope that one of them was watching over his father and give his mother peace of mind.

Then, one day, Cloud was outside drawing pictures into the dirt with a stick when a man came riding into town on a green Chocobo. The boy was fascinated by the differently colored Chocobo, for he had only seen different colored Chocobos in the pictures within his science class textbook. He watches with curiosity as the man came up to his house and hopped off the big green bird carrying something big that was all wrapped up. He continued to watch as the man knocks on the door of his house and his mother came out to greet him. Then, curiosity turned to overwhelming concern as the man told her something and his mother began crying uncontrollably. He came up to the woman as she took the wrapped up object into her arms and the man bowed out and returned to his Chocobo.

"Mom, what's wrong?" he asks her. "When's dad coming home?"

Natalie lays the object on the ground and bends down to hug her son, tears literally raining out of her troubled eyes. It was as she hugged him that Cloud notices that one part of the object became uncovered. There was something metal under the white cloth and as Cloud bends over to uncover more of the object, his eyes went wide with shock. His little blue eyes told no lie as he instantly recognized the metal object as Rune Blade, his father's sword. His father created Rune Blade himself so the sword was a one of a kind weapon. There's no other way that another sword could look like Rune Blade. No way at all.

"Mom…" began Cloud. "That's… that's dad's sword…." He turns to look at his crying mother. "Mom, where's dad?"

"Oh Cloud!" Natalie cries out loud as she hugged her son closer. "Dad… Dad isn't coming home, sweetie."

"Why?" asked the boy as his eyes began to glisten with tears.

"Because… because he's part of the Lifestream now," Natalie chokes through her tears.

Cloud's eyes failed him as he began to cry along with his mother. Overwhelmed with the sudden loss, he hugs his mother tightly. "Why?"

Natalie didn't answer him as she and her son just sat there in the doorway of their house and cry out their sorrow.

* * *

**A/N:** If you guys talked to the people in Gongagga when you visit it, then you would know how this one-shot came about.


End file.
